Inventory of moth fauna (Lepidoptera) of Western Ghats region of Karnataka (Chikamanglur and Shivamogga districts)

Abstract

In this paper an attempt is made to study the diversity of Moths in the Central part of Western Ghats, i.e., in Chikamanglur and Shivamogga Districts of Karnataka. This part of the Western Ghats is rich in biodiversity with extreme endemism. The survey is aimed at recording the diversity of Moth fauna of this region. The moth survey was done from June 2019 to December 2020. This attempt has led to the identification of 407 moths out of 610 moth taxa photographically recorded from six study sites. The moths identified belongs to 23 families of which Erebidae stood first with 136 species (33.41%), Geometridae with 94 members stood second (23.10%), crambidae with 70 moth species stood third (17.20%), Noctuidae, occupy fourth place with 29 moth taxa (7.12%).Of the different study sites, Krishna Rajendra hill station a high elevation site was richest with respect to Moth fauna, where 296 moth taxa were recorded. This documentation of moth fauna of the central part of Western Ghats in Karnataka will serve as base data. Krishna Rajhendra hill station and Hulikal are potential hot spots for Moth diversity. Thorough survey efforts in these two sites is need to compile the moth's diversity of the region.